Barcelona star Raphinha has on Saturday joined Blaugrana legend Luis Suárez in an exclusive club. This comes owing to his exploits against Sevilla.
Frontman Raphinha has of course positioned himself front and centre in the headlines across all of Spanish football once more this evening.
Afforded a start in his new centre-forward berth in Barcelona’s La Liga meeting with the aforementioned Sevilla, the Brazilian responded with his 2nd successive hat-trick.
His latest treble, though, proved a particularly noteworthy one. Raphinha’s first of the clash in Andalusia came courtesy of a right-footed finish, his 2nd a fine header, and his 3rd a deft left-footed chip.
These exploits, combined, make for what is commonly referred to as the rare ‘perfect hat-trick’. And as since revealed by statisticians Opta:
‘Raphinha is only the second Barcelona player to score a perfect hat-trick in LaLiga in the last 20 years. The first was Luis Suárez against Córdoba in May 2015.’
Conor Laird – GSFN
